Abstract
FEW years ago it was the fashion among vertebrate pahontologists to say that, at least so far as the Tertiary period is concerned, the Old World was played out in the matter of their special science, and that the scene of advance was shifted to America, where alone important and epoch-making discoveries were to be expected. All this has been changed by the discovery of the wonderful Lower Tertiary vertebrate fauna—or, rather, series of faunas—in the Fayum, or lake-province, of Egypt, which Dr. Andrews (who, we are glad to say, has now the privilege of adding the letters F.R.S. to his name) has so admirably and lucidly described in the handsome quarto volume before us. Indeed, it is not saying too much to assert that these discoveries have practically revolutionised our conceptions of the mutual relationships of several mammalian groups, and also our ideas on many points cbnnected with the past distribution and migrations of the mammals of the Old World. Perhaps the most important problem which Dr. Andrews has succeeded in solving is the origin of the Proboscidea; and if this had been the only result of his labours he would have been well entitled to undying fame. As it is, this discovery is only one of several of the highest importance in regard to mammalian evolution we rowe to him, and in some degree to others who have been working on the extinct Egyptian faunas.
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L., R. The Fossil Vertebrates of the Fayum 1 . Nature 74, 175–178 (1906). https://doi.org/10.1038/074175g0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/074175g0